Meditate

4. Opposition to Rebuilding

Hostile Plots Thwarted

 4

Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he mocked the Jews.²He said in the presence of his associates and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish—and burned ones at that?”³Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “That stone wall they are building—any fox going up on it would break it down!”⁴Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their taunt back on their own heads, and give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.⁵Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from your sight; for they have hurled insults in the face of the builders.

⁶ So we rebuilt the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height; for the people had a mind to work.

⁷ But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they were very angry,⁸and all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.⁹So we prayed to our God, and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

¹⁰ But Judah said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, and there is too much rubbish so that we are unable to work on the wall.”¹¹And our enemies said, “They will not know or see anything before we come upon them and kill them and stop the work.”¹²When the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times, “From all the places where they live they will come up against us.”¹³So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.¹⁴After I looked these things over, I stood up and said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your kin, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

¹⁵ When our enemies heard that their plot was known to us, and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.¹⁶From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and body-armor; and the leaders posted themselves behind the whole house of Judah,¹⁷who were building the wall. The burden bearers carried their loads in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and with the other held a weapon.¹⁸And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.¹⁹And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.²⁰Rally to us wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet. Our God will fight for us.”

²¹ So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from break of dawn until the stars came out.²²I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night inside Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.”²³So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me ever took off our clothes; each kept his weapon in his right hand.

11. By Faith

The Faith of Other Israelite Heroes

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days.³¹By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

³² And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,³⁴quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.³⁷They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented—³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹ Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised,⁴⁰since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

64. Psalm 64

Psalm 64

Prayer for Protection from Enemies

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

1

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;

preserve my life from the dread enemy.

2

Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,

from the scheming of evildoers,

3

who whet their tongues like swords,

who aim bitter words like arrows,

4

shooting from ambush at the blameless;

they shoot suddenly and without fear.

5

They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they talk of laying snares secretly,

thinking, “Who can see us?

6

Who can search out our crimes?

We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.”

For the human heart and mind are deep.

7

But God will shoot his arrow at them;

they will be wounded suddenly.

8

Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;

all who see them will shake with horror.

9

Then everyone will fear;

they will tell what God has brought about,

and ponder what he has done.

10

Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord

and take refuge in him.

Let all the upright in heart glory.